DJIA components with double-digit performances

By Dian Vujovich

When the stock market crashed five-plus years ago, I was fond of tracking stocks in the DJIA that were selling under 10 bucks a share. As the market improved, I liked those under $20. Now that that below 20 dollar a share price point is currently gone, under $30 is the new per share price regarding Dow cheapies. And as of Friday’s close on 7/11/14, only two stocks traded in that under $30 per share range. That’s a big change in only a few years. So since the per-share price range I’m a fan of is currently gone, my new scope is focused on year-to-date performance.

While the DJIA’s year-to-date performance is 2.21 percent, I was surprised to find that eight—or nearly 25 percent— of the Dow’s 30 components had year-to-date double-digit performances. Of the eight, two had gains of over 20 percent: Caterpillar and Intel.

Before revealing names of the most rewarding companies, the downside of the DJIA is that 11 of the 30 have underwater year-to-date performance figures. E.I.du Pont (DD) lost the least ground, down 0.12 percent to close at $64.89 on Friday and Goldman Sachs (GS) the most, down 7.03 percent at $164.80, according to CNNMoney.

As for the top performers, here’s the list of the eight companies with double-digit year-to-date performances: Caterpillar (CAT) up 21.09 percent; Intel (INTC), up 20.4 percent; Merck (MRK) ahead 16.76 percent; Johnson & Johnson, up 14.75 percent; Cisco, (CSCO) ahead 13.78 percent; Walt Disney Co. ( DIS) up 13.73 percnet; Microsoft (MSFT), ahead 12.51 percent; and UnitedHealth Group (UNH) has gained 10.05 percent.

Given that it’s anybody’s guess how stocks will fare going forward and through the year’s end, double-digit returns are always worth smiling about—even if they may be only short-lived.